Ruida 6442G disable autofocus

Community Laser Talk
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Hi,
Newish Monport 80w with RDC6442G in a community makerspace environment. Despite heroic efforts by myself and team, users seem to crash the head into the honeycomb when autofocusing. Drama and damage ensues.

I’m ready to pull the autofocus pen from the head and make everyone use manual focus with the Z+/Z- buttons.

However, my nightmare scenario is that someone hits autofocus in Lightburn or in the Z menu and crashes it anyway. (There are no Z limit switches on this model).
Can I disable the autofocus function in the control panel or Machine Settings?
I’ve been through the Ruida manual, but it’s less than helpful on this topic.

Appreciate any hints.

2

The KT332N controller in my machine uses the U axis for the platform motor and the Machine Settings → Vendor Settings → U Axis Settings has an Enable Homing switch: set that switch to False and it does not respond to a poke of the Focus button on the machine display.

That screenshot came from a crawl through the focus settings a while ago.

It surely has a different name in a 6442, but crawling through the Vendor Settings should unearth something similar.

Remember to save a backup of the current settings …

FWIW, my experience shows the Ruida manuals commit errors of both commission and omission: just because a setting appears in the manual doesn’t mean the controller has that setting and conversely. It may have something to do with various firmware revisions / OEM customizations / moon phase.

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Very helpful, thanks.

I personally like the auto focus, but unfortunately our clients aren’t always as cautious with our tools as we’d like.

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I’ve learned the hard way to politely not loan a tool to anyone who doesn’t already own a bunch of tools. :frowning:

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Good practice, albeit antithetical for a maker space. :grinning_face:

We work to educate and reinforce, and when all else fails, charge them for the damage. It’s a labor of love, teaching is.

6

Our offspring works for a makerspace and mentioned a staffer blew two SawStops while discovering the riving knife had drifted a wee bit out of line. Those were on the house, but a member would pay for the cartridges and the blades.

They observed “makerspace equipment has a hard life”.

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